Sixteen teams, 256 matches and thousands of frequent flyer miles logged.
At last, the inaugural Western Athletic Conference women’s volleyball tournament is here. Well, actually, it’s at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
The same MGM that hosted the greatest Heavyweight Championship in the last 20 years: Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield.
Just like before the fight, people are wondering why they should even host the event. After all, the University of Hawaii is participating.
This happens when you are ranked No. 3 nationally, have a record of 29-1 overall and, more importantly, go undefeated in league (16-0), losing only four games all season. There are usually four games in a match.
The Wahine placed all six starters on either the WAC’s first or second All-Conference team, had the Player of the Year in Angelica Ljungquist, and had their head coach, Dave Shoji, selected as Coach of the Year.
But that’s why they play the matches.
If Hawaii is the Tyson of the tournament, then someone will have to step up and play the part of Holyfield.
The candidates? San Diego State, Brigham Young University and Colorado State.
SDSU (20-9 overall; 13-3 WAC)
The third-seeded Aztecs are simply hot right now. They’ve won 10 of their last 11 matches, including 16 of their last 19. Two losses were against the Wahine, and the other was against BYU, a five-game heartbreaker in Provo, Utah, earlier this month.
SDSU has been receiving stellar play from first-team All-WAC selection Martina Vitkova and second-team All-WAC players Andrea Clark and Juliana Cezar. Ginger Ernest has been on her game lately, tallying 57 kills and 42 digs over the past four matches, all Aztec victories.
The ladies of Montezuma Mesa won 20 games this season for the fifth year in a row.
The way the tournament is set up, SDSU received a first round bye for finishing second in the WAC’s Pacific Division. They’ll play the winner of the Fresno State-SJSU match today. If the Aztecs win, they will most likely lock up with the Cougars on Friday in the semifinals a match SDSU would love to have.
“We beat (BYU) at home and we should have won when we played up there,” Cezar said. “Our team is focused, and we’re playing well together.”
Aztecs head coach Mark Warner feels his team is peaking at the right time.
“We’re finally playing at a consistently high level,” he said.
BYU (22-6; 15-1 WAC)
If SDSU has been on fire, then the Cougars have been anm inferno. They’ve won 20 matches in a row, which is fourth-best in the school’s history. During its winning streak, BYU has lost only seven games.
The WAC’s first-ever Mountain Division champions are ranked No. 25 in the nation and had three players named to the All-WAC first team, including this year’s Mountain Division Player of the Year, Gail Johnson, and last year’s Co-WAC Player of the Year, Amy Steele.
The combination of middle blocker Steel and outside hitter Johnson give the Cougars arguably the best inside- outside punch east of Hawaii.
Although the Aztecs are looking forward to a possible clash with the Cougars, BYU is more concerned with its second-round match against the winner of the Wyoming- CSU match.
“I watched Wyoming’s five-game upset of Colorado State on TV,” Cougars head coach Elaine Michaelis said. “Wyoming came from two games down to win, and it looked like Wyoming was really coming together. But I know (the Rams) have a good team.”
Colorado State (21-9; 10-6 WAC)
Ironically, it was a loss that illustrated how good CSU can be and what makes it a sleeper in the tournament.
The Rams had Hawaii on the ropes in Fort Collins Colo., leading two games to one, only to let the Wahine come back and win in five games. But they showed that Hawaii was not invincible. Up to that match, the Wahine had only lost one game in league play (to SDSU).
The Rams also made their mark during the WAC postseason awards. Rainie Rogers and Judy Rexroth were named to the first team, and Analisa Saylor was named to the second team.
… The sound you just heard was the bell ringing, commencing the inaugural WAC volleyball tournament. Let’s get ready …
